I spent last week in Boise attending the 2024 American Meteorological Society Mountain Meteorology Conference. When we arrived on Sunday afternoon, it was 108˚F with smoke filled skies. The locals did their best to maintain a sense of humor.
Wednesday afternoon is typically a recreation period for attendees. We decided to drive up to Banks and go for a swim in the Payette River, which was thankfully cold. On the way home, just outside of Boise, we noticed a column of black smoke set against the bronze sky from fires in Oregon. After cresting a hill, we noticed a relatively new Ford Expedition engulfed in flames and a lot of people standing around looking at it in horror. With little to do to help, we drove on. Ultimately, thunderstorm outflow fanned the vehicle fire into the grass and 1500 acres apparently went up quickly before it rained and they got it under control. Good times.
Today (Saturday), I'm back in Salt Lake and it's been somewhat comfortable thanks to the overnight and morning thunderstorms. At 1 PM, we're sitting at a comfy 82°F. The airport picked up 0.01" of rain overnight and this morning, adding to the .01" they got on Thursday and .01" on Friday. That brings the monthly total to 0.03". If you are wondering, there have been four Julys without measurable precipitation at the airport. .03" would be good for 12th driest since 1874, although perhaps we can add more to the tally later today. After today, precipitation chances look fairly low (but not quite zero) for the rest of the month).
Enjoy today because the forecasts and outlooks are not good. Below are the 6-10 day, 8-14 day, and 3-4 week temperature outlooks from the NOAA/NWS Climate Prediction Center.
I wonder if you would considering doing more smoke commentary and forecast in the summer. I use NOAA’s smoke forecast site and it’s great but only for a few hours in advance. Of course, you can’t predict where actual fires will pop up, but sure would be useful to know the airflow forecasts for western US as we all learn to navigate the new reality of smoke season.
ReplyDeleteIs this the smoke forecast site you're using? https://fire.airnow.gov/
ReplyDeleteI’m using this one. It’s not the most elegant to navigate but it’s been reliably accurate for several years running. https://apps.gsl.noaa.gov/smoke/index.html
ReplyDelete